BattleFire!: Combat Stories from World War II - Softcover

Kelly, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 10: 081319010X ISBN 13: 9780813190105

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2001

Synopsis

" Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941: High on the bridge of the USS West Virginia Sfc. Lee Ebner was looking forward to the end of his watch and a relaxed Sunday morning breakfast. But the two low-flying planes painted with rising sun insignia and bearing down on the ship had other plans for him and his fellow seamen. Ten hours later, at Clark Field in the Philippines, Pfc. Jack Reed felt the brunt of another Japanese air attack and within weeks found himself a part of the gruesome Bataan Death March that was to claim the lives of hundred of his comrades. On another continent, four years into the war, Capt. Benjamin Butler led his exhausted company up a steep, fog-shrouded Italian mountain toward a well entrenched German defensive position. The odds against their survival were appalling, though worse was to come in the months ahead. Such were the experiences of many young men-plucked from their local communities all across America, trained for war, and hurled into the strange reality of combat thousands of miles form home. In this stunning collection of World War II oral histories, Arthur Kelly recreates the experiences of twelve young men from Kentucky who survived the seemingly unsurvivable, whether in combat or as prisoners of war.

About this title

About the Author:

Col. Arthur L. Kelly (U.S. Army, Ret.), a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, interviewed more than a hundred veterans over the course of a decade for this book. He lives in Springfield, Kentucky.

Review:

"I salute all of these Kentucky heroes, as well as Kelly, who reminds us of what these old soldiers cannot forget."―Bob Edwards, Lexington Herald Leader

"They were there all right―and you're right there with them!"―C. Brian Kelly, World War II Magazine

"A remarkably gripping work. To this reviewer, who served as a combat infantry officer in the war, the accounts ring extraordinarily true."―Charles P. Roland

"From Pearl Harbor to Leyte Gulf and Okinawa to Iwo Jima, the stories are presented as the individual soldiers, sailors, and marines lived them."―Gun Week

"This excellent book continues the current trend of exploring the individual soldier's experiences in World War II."―Military Review

"These are all well written stories of men at their best in the worst of all possible times, brave Americans well worthy of their citizenship, state, and community."―Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Anyone wanting to read of combat and courage can find it aplenty in this excellent book."―Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"You can experience the shocking events of Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, Bastogne, Kamikase hits, and POW life."―Springfield Sun

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 081319010X
• ISBN 13: 9780813190105
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240